Luminaires are used in many commercial and consumer venues to illuminate particular areas of a site, such as lighting for a service station, storefront or restaurant, and are typically mounted on or within a support structure such as a ceiling, canopy structure or building exterior.
Luminaires of currently existing designs are typically mounted on their support structures either by direct attachment to the structure or by creating an opening and installing the recessed luminaire into the opening. A typical drawback associated with many existing luminaires is that the lamp is mounted in a fixed position on or within the support structure, thereby prohibiting redirection of the light emanating from the lamp toward specific, desired areas below. Although lenses can be used to direct the light toward a particular area and focus the light output downward, a substantial portion of the luminous output of the lamp is nevertheless emitted in other directions.
Some existing luminaires permit movement of the luminaire body to direct the light output, most notably track lighting. However, such existing luminaires are not designed to withstand outside environments, such as weather and insects. Further, many have limitations in the rotational range of the lamps and cannot be easily locked into place. Still further, recent environmental regulations such as Title 24 in California, which went into effect in Oct. of 2005, require a canopy luminaire to have a flat lens and not protrude below the level of the canopy.
One other drawback associated with existing luminaires, again relating to the difficulty in directing the light output toward the intended area, involves the need for using a larger lamp, such as a high intensity discharge (HID) lamp, to provide the desired level of lighting. As the lens cannot efficiently direct the high intensity light to specific areas, much of the light is scattered toward unintended local and distant destinations. This scattering results in light pollution issues ranging from the disturbance of neighbors to interference of night sky viewing.
Thus, there is a substantial need for a luminaire that may be easily and quickly adjusted to direct light toward a particular target area without scattering light to unintended areas. There is also a need for an adjustable canopy luminaire in which the lamp does not protrude below the canopy. Further, there is a significant need for a luminaire that is capable of using a smaller lamp and consuming less electricity in its operation while providing the same degree of illumination.